Yongwoo Na, Director of the North Korea Research Division at KINU, underscores the escalating severity of natural disasters that North Korea experiences annually and notes that Pyongyang’s disaster response capabilities remain critically inadequate. Na highlights that the growing frequency of disasters, driven by the climate crisis, poses a signi...

While North Korea is readily perceived as the “hermit kingdom,” the regime in fact actively engages in multilateral efforts to combat climate change. Sangkuk Kim (Researcher, Freie Universitaet Berlin) and Eric J. Ballbach (Visiting Fellow, German Institute of International and Security Affairs) analyze the rationales, motives, and strategies t...

In this Research Review, Gyubin Choi, Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, analyzes the implications of North Korea’s implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which was reported through its 2021 Voluntary National Review. Dr. Choi finds that, though Pyongyang has committed to all 17 SDGs, it did so s...

In this interview, Yanzhong Huang, Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations, discusses the geopolitical ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic in East Asia, centered on developments in Beijing, Pyongyang, and Seoul. Dr. Huang notes that North Korea and China have initially been quite successful in enforcing their zero COV...

The unexpected spread of COVID-19 in North Korea has added another layer of uncertainty on the Korean Peninsula. In this commentary, Philo Kim, Associate Professor at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies (IPUS) at Seoul National University, analyzes the domestic and external implications of North Korea’s recent surge in COVID-19 cases....

In June 2021, North Korea submitted a Voluntary National Review (VNR) and reported its progress on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. North Korea’s submission of the 2021 VNR report, the first to be submitted, shows its desire to participate as a member of the international community and allows for the provision of...

Kim Jong Un has been trying to overcome the triple distress North Korea faces – sanctions against North Korea, natural disasters, and the coronavirus pandemic. In this commentary, EJR Cho, Research Fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS), and Tae-Kyung Kim, Associate Research Fellow at the National Assembly Futures Institute...

After the coronavirus pandemic, health has been emerging as an important security factor. Given the medical and healthcare situation in North Korea which is presumed to be poor, the health security of the entire Korean Peninsula beyond South Korea has been also discussed. In this issue, we hear from Professor Park Sang-Min of Institute for Health a...